Listings increase, sales drop in Riverdale

In some of the city’s most desireable neighborhoods, prospective buyers are eschewing bargains and hedging their bets on rentals till the market returns.

In Riverdale, an affluent residential neighborhood in the northwest portion of the Bronx, listings have skyrocketed, but sales have dropped, the New York Times reported, with available properties having increased by 80 percent over two years.

In fact, it would take approximately two years for buyers to absorb the current sales inventory in Riverdale, according to data from Streeteasy.com, more than double the time it might have taken even two years ago.

“There were some very optimistic developers who were trying to bring Manhattan-style buildings to Riverdale,” said Sofia Song, vice president at Streeteasy.com. “The new developments weren’t cheap. When the bubble burst, the product started lingering.”

Anthony DeVivio, director of sales for Halstead Property in Upper Manhattan and Riverdale, blamed a glut of one-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood, the median price of which has fallen by about 13 percent over the last two years, to $299,000. [NYT]